


Trial Run

by celeste9



Series: February Challenge Fics [21]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Shattered Empire
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Married Couple, Pets, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Snakes, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: Shara and Kes take Poe for a picnic by the lake.





	Trial Run

**Author's Note:**

> Day 21: swimming, bathing, or washing

“Can we go faster, Mom?”

“Just a little bit, speed demon,” Shara said, urging the speeder ahead, Poe in her lap with his small hands on the stick beneath hers.

He was too short still for his feet to reach but he had a good eye, quick reflexes, and a nice handle on the controls. He would make a hell of a pilot one day, maybe better than Shara was herself. She couldn’t wait to see it.

Well, maybe it could take just a little while. She wasn’t eager for him to grow up quite yet.

“Is it here?” Poe asked, big eyes taking in their surroundings.

“Just about,” Shara said, and eased them to a stop under a canopy of trees.

Poe sprang out of the speeder and Shara let him race ahead while Kes got out their basket of food. “Left!” Shara called when Poe turned the wrong way and he spun and went back down the proper turn in the trail.

She followed with Kes, her arm looped around his waist, and they came upon the little lake just as Poe was dropping his shirt onto the rocks and leaping in.

“You couldn’t wait for us?” Kes said, as Poe’s head bobbed back up from beneath the water, his hair sopping.

“You were so slow,” Poe told them, and floated on his back, hands skimming the water.

“That’s what happens with old folks like us.” Kes spread out their towels and set the basket down, urging Shara to come sit with him. “Can’t keep up.”

The day was hot and muggy but it was nice here in the shade, and Shara bet the water felt amazing. She thought she’d take a dip after they ate but for now was content to lean against Kes and watch Poe.

“You guys are boring,” Poe said, doing circles.

“It was a long walk, we need a breather,” Kes teased, sliding down until he could put his head in Shara’s lap.

She rolled her eyes at him but stroked her fingers in his hair. “We’ll be in later, Poe. Show us how fast you can do your laps now.”

Poe eagerly obliged, always happy to show off. He looked over his shoulder every so often to make sure they were watching and Shara smiled at him.

“You remember the first time we took him here?” she asked Kes. “I thought for sure he’d get eaten by something.”

“Thought I would,” Kes said. “Think I’ve still got a scar from whatever the hell bit me.”

“You screamed like a small child,” Shara recalled fondly. “Higher-pitched even than Poe.”

“And he thought the whole thing was a game. Always thinks everything’s a game.”

“He does enjoy an adventure.”

“Wonder where he got that from.”

When Shara looked up, she noticed Poe didn’t seem to be in the water any longer. Startled, she glanced around only to find him perched in the overhanging branches of a tree that was growing just beside the lake. “Poe!”

He waved at her. “I just wanted to jump in, and this is the highest spot.”

“You’ll break your neck up there, it’s too high! What if you land on the rocks? Get down from there right now!”

Only slightly abashed, Poe said, “Okay,” and jumped right into the center of the lake, curling himself into a ball and hitting with an enormous splash.

Kes, who had worked himself back into a seated position, blinked first at Poe’s wet, bedraggled form, and then at Shara.

“Poe Dameron,” Shara breathed out, cheeks pinking at the audacity of him. “What did I say?”

“You told me to get down, so I got down.”

Kes started laughing. Shara smacked him.

“When you go to the Navy, do you think your commanding officers will be impressed if that’s how you follow orders?”

Poe shrugged. “Probably not. But it was fun.”

Shara tried very hard not to give into the smile that was threatening; she wasn’t sure she entirely succeeded. “When I tell you to do something, you do it. None of this creative listening, you got it?”

“Yes, Mom,” Poe said, and dunked himself back under the water.

Kes kissed her neck. “You know he got that reckless disregard for personal safety in the name of an adrenaline burst from you.”

“Quiet,” Shara said, and let Kes kiss her again.

After a while Shara and Kes unpacked their lunch and called Poe out of the water to eat. He came easily enough, plopping himself onto the towels, dripping, not bothering to dry himself off at all. When he reached for a sandwich, Shara yelped.

“Poe! What is on your arm?”

“Oh!” Poe held out his forearm where a skinny greenish snake was curled around him. “I found him on the rocks and he slithered right into my hand; can I keep him?”

“What if it bites you? Put it back!”

“He likes me,” Poe insisted, and the snake lifted its head, sticking its tongue out as if tasting the air.

“Aw, they’re not dangerous, Shara, I see them in the grove sometimes,” Kes said, stroking the snake’s skinny back. “Let the kid have a pet if he wants.”

“It’s wild,” Shara said. “It doesn’t want to be cooped up.”

“I won’t coop him up,” Poe said, letting the snake unwind from around his arm and curl behind his neck. “I’ll just keep him in my room.”

“So he can slither all over the house and get stepped on?”

“I’ll take care of him! I promise!”

Poe’s bottom lip was jutting out, that formidable pout he had got from Kes. Shara sighed.

“Two days,” she said. “Trial run. If you show me you can do a good job, then you can keep it.”

“Yes!” Poe exclaimed, as the snake poked its head out from behind Poe’s ear.

“Thanks for encouraging him,” Shara said to Kes as she handed him a sandwich.

“It’ll keep him busy. Plus, responsibility and whatever. Isn’t that usually why people let their kids have pets?”

“Generally not wild snakes they find by the side of a lake.”

“Shara, baby, this isn’t even the weirdest thing he’s done this week,” Kes said, as they both watched Poe carry on a one-sided conversation with his new friend.

Shara thought for a moment, and then couldn’t help her smile. “Yeah, okay. But I’m blaming that on you.”

Kes laughed and kissed her; Poe beamed at them both, the snake slithering atop his head over his wet hair now.

“All right, it’s a little bit cute,” Shara admitted, and reached out to touch the tiny snake’s head.

Somehow she knew the snake would fit right in.


End file.
